SCV News | Stevenson Ranch Teens Plant Flag on Mountainside

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Uploaded:, Sunday Jul 4, 2021

By Emily Alvarenga | The signal

When a group of teenagers realized that the American flag planted atop a nearby hill was no longer there, they took it upon themselves to restore the Stevenson Ranch emblem to its former glory.

“There was an American flag on top of this mountain for many years, longer than I can remember,” Brandon Park said.

So when the high school students realized that the flag was no longer there, they decided to investigate, scaling the mountain to find that the flag had been knocked down and torn apart.

“There really wasn’t a flag anymore, and that’s what made us want to start this project,” added Jagger Nelson.

Andy Chaidez had climbed the mountain before and was injured so he knew the danger, which is why he and Reid Twitchell enlisted the help of their friends including Park, Nelson, Brody Twitchell, Brian Gonzalez and Brandon Han, to fix the flag.

Reid Twitchell pours the mortar used to form the concrete base of a flag they placed atop a peak at Stevenson Ranch on Friday morning. From left to right: Andres Chaidez, Brody Twitchell, Reid Twitchell and Brian Gonzalez. June 18, 2021. Bobby Block / The signal.

“We have made plans on what materials we need to install the flag and have it so that it won’t fall off again,” Twitchell said, adding that they even decided to add concrete to the flagpole for make sure it held up for years to come.

Ascension

It wasn’t until the boys scaled the first ropes needed to climb the steep parts of the hill that they realized the commitment they had made, Chaidez added.

“It was actually very difficult as there were very few support ropes to climb on, most of it was basically mountain climbing,” Twitchell said.

“The first time, Reid had to do a lot of free climbing to get on the ropes himself,” added Gonzalez.

A group of friends climb to the top of a peak at Stevenson Ranch near Pico Canyon Park to plant a flag on Friday morning. From left to right: Brandon Park, Reid Twitchell, Brody Twitchell, Brian Gonzalez, Jagger Nelson and Andres Chaidez. June 18, 2021. Bobby Block / The signal.

Some of the group ended up climbing the mountain several times to scout and plan before the group climbed up to plant the flag, Park said.

“What we ended up doing was hauling 20 to 30 pounds of cement and (a few gallons) of water, and cementing the flagpole in place,” Twitchell said.

“It was difficult,” Chaidez added with a laugh.

Once at the top, the boys realized that the original pole was too small for the new flag, and ended up having to use the tools they had on hand to punch new holes and use the metal rod that they had on hand. ‘they had brought to mix the makeshift concrete. a new flag pole.

“It was a lot bigger than the last one,” Park said of the new 6ft by 3ft flag they had installed.

The reward

The whole process, working as a team and sweating to get the job done, felt like something out of a movie to Chaidez.

“It’s just amazing,” he said. “Once you experience it, you feel like you are part of an operation. ”

The boys agreed that they were proud to have installed the new flag big enough to be seen from Pico Canyon Road.

“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of (to do),” Twitchell said.

Twitchell and Gonzalez agreed that it felt good for them to give back to the community in some way.

“It’s a pretty visible flag,” Nelson added. “It’s a super cool show.”

Park, who can see the flag from his window, is happy to see it still standing, even after some of the strong winds the area has seen.

A group of friends climb to the top of a peak at Stevenson Ranch near Pico Canyon Park to plant a flag on Friday morning. From left to right: Brandon Park, Brian Gonzalez, Reid Twitchell, Brody Twitchell, Jagger Nelson and Andres Chaidez. June 18, 2021. Bobby Block / The signal.

“It’s good to know that we did a pretty solid job,” added Park.

During their excursions up the mountain, the boys had discovered that they weren’t the only ones making the climb, finding a geocache with dozens of names inscribed on it.

Additionally, they discovered that the original flag was dedicated to Matthew Weiss, who frequented the hills.

“We didn’t know him personally, we just wanted to stick that flag up there, (but we thought), ‘OK, let’s put a flag up there in his honor,’” Nelson added.

Overall, Park feels like the flag is a good parable of what the county went through last year.

“(Replace) the torn flag… (with) a new flag, and now it’s better than ever represents a lot of what’s going on right now,” Park said, referring to the pandemic and the hardships that have gone on. held across the country this past year.

“This represents new hope,” Nelson added, “because we are just emerging from the pandemic now.… We have recovered, stronger now.



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